Gene Strandberg, Gilpin County.

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato

“The good news, to relieve all this gloom, is that a democracy is self-correcting. Here the people are sovereign. Inept political leaders can be replaced. Foolish policies can be changed. Disastrous mistakes can be reversed.” – Theodore Sorensen, President Kennedy’s close adviser and speechwriter.

This isn’t the first time the super-rich and corporate interests have tried to subvert our democracy, but this is the closest they have come to succeeding. They’ve had nearly half a century of corrupting state legislatures, disenfranchising voters, avoiding taxes, undermining public education, abolishing unions, killing and sickening consumers and workers and the environment, all with the help of corrupt office holders, corrupt institutions, corrupt media propagandizing, and with only token opposition. I think all that is about to change.

Since the time of Mark Twain, frustrated people have lamented, “If voting changed anything, they would make it illegal.” Understand this, the votes of a well-informed electorate are what the subverters fear most, otherwise they wouldn’t need the lies and the propaganda. A healthy democracy requires citizen participation, but voting is not participation enough. We must network, everything we learn from this column or anywhere else must be shared with friends and family, business and personal acquaintances, wherever they live, and ask them to do the same, and so on. This is what grassroots movements are. 

We can get involved in issue reform. Citizen groups and organizations have formed to oppose and abolish many subversive and harmful laws and rulings. For example, an online search of Citizens United shows several groups have formed to overturn the Supreme Court’s plutocratic ruling, as well as a constitutional amendment to overturn it. The ‘Democracy for All’ bill was introduced on the first day of the 116th Congress by Representatives Ted Deutch (D-FL), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and John Katko (R-NY). Common Cause and other citizen groups are working to that same end, and a Senate bill was also introduced in May. Whatever you are unhappy with, get involved and work for change. 

Another thing we can do is get our information from unbiased sources. For print journalism the Associated Press, whose articles are often in the Denver Post, the BBC, and Reuters all hold their reporters to the strictest standards of reporting the facts and not taking a position. The New York Times and the Washington Post have a liberal leaning, but have both fired reporters for not getting the facts straight. Online sources that dig deep and report the facts are the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Media and Democracy, and the Center for Responsive Politics. There are other honest news sources, but these are the ones I am familiar with.  

One final thing we can do is write to our U.S. Representative and both of our U.S. Senators immediately and demand action on the following:

On September 19 President Trump had an unscheduled White House meeting with Mark Zuckerberg, after which Zuckerberg announced Facebook would allow fraudulent political ads. “Our approach is grounded in Facebook’s fundamental belief in free expression, respect for the democratic process, and the belief that, in mature democracies with a free press, political speech is already arguably the most scrutinized speech there is.”

During the week of September 22-28 the Trump campaign spent over $1.1 million on Facebook ads, and the following week spent more than $1.3 million. The unbridled arrogance of the rich and powerful, feeling they can break any law without consequence must be their downfall, and these crimes are the last straw.

It’s time the laws we have are actually enforced. The crimes being committed, depending on the motives for the lies and means of transmission of the lies are mail fraud, wire fraud or honest services fraud, the same crimes committed by those who release fake news, which is also not being punished. The penalty for each count is a fine of $250,000 and up to 20 years in prison for an individual, with a fine of $500,000 for a company. Anyone who submits or accepts these ads can be prosecuted. Elected officials must understand that they and their party are also being scrutinized for their action or inaction regarding this blatant subversive threat to democracy. Do we have ‘rule of law’ or not? Any party that does not vigorously pursue the prosecution of these criminals, may find itself obsolete and replaced. 

The public can also boycott or withdraw from Facebook, and its corporate charter can be revoked, if it has exceeded or abused its authority or committed three corporate felonies in a 10-year period. Freedom of speech doesn’t protect lies!

Next time: Meet the Kochs.